Each year in July, for just one week, the Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, WI, becomes the busiest airport in the world, thanks to EAA AirVenture – a weeklong fly-in and celebration of aviation. Last year, AirVenture attendance was estimated at over 600,000 people, with 2,700 of those visitors registered from 87 nations, as well as around 10,000 aircraft and 2,900 show planes. The event, this year taking place July 22-28, is indicative of its core organization – EAA – whose activities and work reach past the weeklong celebration, keeping the spirit of aviation thriving with the work it does at its headquarters in Oshkosh and across the nation.
EAA, which stands for the Experimental Aircraft Association, was founded in 1953 at what was then known as Curtiss-Wright Field in Milwaukee, WI, (now Timmerman Field) by Paul Poberezny – a lifelong aviator and army flight instructor during WWII. Deriving its name from the “Experimental Aircraft” category, assigned to airplanes used for recreational and educational purposes, EAA’s founding goals were to assist and aid amateur aircraft builders. Quickly, EAA’s scope grew to encompass and promote all facets of aviation. That same year, the first EAA fly-in was held, attracting 21 aircraft and 150 people, and laying the groundwork for what is today AirVenture.
Come 1964, a continually growing EAA moved its headquarters’ from Poberezny’s basement to Franklin, WI, which lasted for two years before EAA outgrew the space. Growing too, the Fly-In moved to Rockford, IL, in 1959, and in 1970 later it moved to its now familiar grounds in Oshkosh. Not long behind, construction began in 1981 on the EAA’s permanent home in Oshkosh and in 1983 it was dedicated – opening the EAA’s international headquarters, aviation foundation, and the EAA Aviation Museum.
Competition to Be the Organization’s Home Was Strong
“At the time there was a big consideration to go to Burlington, WI," explains Dick Knapinski, EAA’s director of communications. "But then they never got an agreement with municipal officials down there where they wanted to do it. And so that's when they started looking around and found Oshkosh and this building [the Kermit Weeks Hangar, EAA’s primary restoration center] went up. The fly-in had been here since 1970. Paul really wanted to find a spot where he could put the headquarters and the fly-in in the same place. He and the board talked about it. There were a couple places. I know St. Louis, down in that area, was interested in the EAA and there were some other places as well, but the city fathers here in Oshkosh got together and said we'd love to have the headquarters here and the museum and everything else. They knew there was plenty of room to park airplanes and cars and they've got a great airport here. So, history took its course from there on out.”
From its origins in a Milwaukee basement, today the EAA is an international organization with more than 900 chapters spread across the United States and Canada. An eclectic aviation organization, the EAA has its fingers in just about every aspect of the industry – from youth flying programs, pilot training to the restoration of vintage and collector aircraft, and touring aircraft and warbirds – EAA does it all.
With an eclectic group of offerings, the EAA needs to manage an equally eclectic group of aircraft. John Hopkins, EAA’s manager of aircraft maintenance, says the aircraft that EAA maintains can be broken down into two groups: EAA’s touring aircraft and the aircraft used for their Air Academy.
Maintaining Touring Aircraft
On the touring side, EAA has a B-17, two Ford Tri-Motors, and, the newest edition, a B-25. Each plane required restoration by EAA before being ready to fly around the nation. Maintenance to the planes is always ongoing but being on tour requires on-tour maintenance.
“We've got to maintain all those four to keep that program going and make it successful,” Hopkins says. “We pretty much travel and maintain them on the road wherever we're at. If the B17 or one of the Fords is within 500 miles of Oshkosh, it's much more economical for us to take our Aztec and a couple of mechanics, put the tools in, any parts you need, and go. We can be there in two, three hours. Even from here to Denver, CO, that's a five-hour flight. It's not too bad. We get out, we've got all our equipment that we need, and we go to work.”
To wit, the planes never go where there isn’t hangar space available for them, which means EAA has to coordinate with its many national chapters to ensure the planes have homes on the road.
“We work with chapters all around the country. That's our outreach program for our chapter activities, and the chapters help run the tours on the weekends and help keep the planes clean,” Hopkins says.
“For example, we didn't tour over the Easter weekend but some friends out in Sacramento at Mather Airport have had our Tri-Motor a couple times, where we hadn't had a hangar immediately available, and in California, they've been able to store the aircraft for us. So, we do have friends around the country that help us out,” elaborates Knapinski.
And EAA’s friends are often more than happy to house the hard-to-find planes.
“They're excited to get the airplane. It's pretty rare to see a Ford Tri-Motor taxi into your airport,” says Hopkins. “And then they call up and say, ‘can we go wash it and clean it for you?’ And, sure!”
Air Academy
On its Air Academy side, a fleet of three Cessna Skycatchers, two GlaStars, and two biplanes – a Travel Air and Swallow – are maintained by the EAA, each serving a different purpose.
“We have our Air Academy in the summer months here, with kids coming in about every week. They keep rotating through with their education or their immersion into aviation, and part of that is that they get to ride in an airplane,” explains Hopkins. “So, we have three Cessna Skycatchers that we maintain. We get the instructors here and then they run the kids through, but every kid that comes to camp, if they want, they all get a ride. So those Cessna Skycatchers, every week we've got 50 or 60 more kids to give a ride to and keep it maintained and get the oil changes done and do all the required inspections on them.
“And then we're trying these light sport aircraft academies also. We'll get three or four students in here for a three-week period and sunup to sundown they're with an instructor and they're getting taught how to fly an airplane. They have to come with a written exam already. It's an accelerated course. In three weeks they get their light sport pilot certificate. So we have the Air Academies, we have the light support aircraft activities going on here, and then Pioneer Airpark behind the museum. We have two GlaStars back there that are available to any mom and dad that come to the museum and pay to go through it. If they have a child between the ages of 8 and 17, they can go behind the museum and sign their child up and we'll give them an airplane ride for free. So we have those two GlaStars flying all summer long back there starting the first of June."
The Maintenance Aspect
"We have to maintain those and make sure they're flying good and we're not having any issues because we're giving kid rides. Again, same way with the Skycatchers, you can't mess around with maintenance when parents are expecting you to give their child a safe ride – it better happen,” continues Hopkins. “And then we have two biplanes, the Travel Air and the Swallow. If you wanted to go for an airplane ride, you can pay $75 and go for a 15-minute ride around the patch and experience what it's like to go for an open cockpit biplane ride.”
As if that isn’t enough, the EAA also maintains a handful of aircraft for its personal use: An Aztec used for business travel, a Cessna 210 used as its photo plane, and a T6, brought out for special occasions – sometimes to fly alongside the B-17.
Maintaining and supporting the EAA’s many aircraft falls to Hopkins, the four other EAA staff mechanics, and a healthy volunteer core.
“We're very lucky that we have people who understand the passion. They look for the variety here. It's not going and working on an assembly line doing the same thing every day and you're not working on corporate jets every day. There's a variety and there's always a neat challenge,” says Dennis Dunbar, EAA’s director of flight operations. “When John starts talking about all the different things that we've done here in just a short time, it's pretty amazing what we were able to accomplish because of that passion and experience.”
The Importance of Volunteers
The mix of staff and volunteers are responsible for many of the EAA’s accomplishments.
“We have volunteer mechanics for the B-17 program and the B-25 and I've got a few volunteer guys that are helping with the Fords, and we're trying to grow that group of guys to go out," explains Hopkins. "Maybe it needs an oil change, or maybe a push-to-talk switch is broken or whatever the routine little trouble things that keep them up and running. Maybe an oil leak on a push rod tube. Then we'll go out and do the 120- or the 100-hour inspections. Or if anything serious happens, like they need a cylinder change, one of the staff here will travel out and help.”
EAA counts over 100 year-round, active volunteers on its roster, helping with projects big and small. When AirVenutre hits, the volunteer numbers skyrocket. Dunbar says that last year AirVenture had 5,500 volunteers working in all areas before, during, and after the fly-in.
Helping to direct the many volunteers are Hopkins and his fellow staff mechanics, who take turns each day guiding volunteers of all skill levels through projects.
“The day-to-day maintenance and that sort of stuff we try to steer clear of that because it's a short turnaround time and we don't have time to deal with the teaching and the education part of it. But we do have a structured program on Wednesday nights and Saturdays, from 5 to 9 we're open for volunteers and I'll have one of the staff members, including myself, we all rotate the mechanics,” Hopkins says.
“You have to access all your volunteers on an individual basis. What are they capable of?,” continues Hopkins. “Have they been working on motorcycles and cars all their life? They're going to do fine. If they've been in an office environment, like accountants, we've had accountants in here, we've had all walks of life in here where they're not really mechanically inclined. They've never really worked with sheet metal. They haven't worked with tools for a living, so you try to find them something where they can participate and help. It may not be as technical as what you can give to some of the other guys that you've got coming through the door. But they all enjoy working on it and they enjoy the opportunity to work on it, and it's a wonderful treat for them personally.”
“John and his crew have done a great job of having a program where if you give them direction and, ‘here's what we're going to accomplish, here's the goal, here's how we have to get there’ – people usually respond pretty well,” adds Knapinski.
Without its healthy volunteer core, EAA’s B-25 would never have left the ground. Flying for the first time on April 19, Hopkins says it’s been a project over four years in the making, with local chapters coming to lend a hand for “chapter get together.”
“They get a chance to get out, come over, and have a little chapter camaraderie,” says Hopkins. “We get them from Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, pretty much just about any state that touches Wisconsin. We did that with our B-25 two years ago with the help of Chapter 237 from Blaine, MN, they've probably been our most prolific. They've been coming here twice a month the last six months or so trying to help finish the B-25.”
Of notable volunteers on the B-25 project, Hopkins, Knapinski and Dunbar agree that local volunteer Bob McLaughlin has been paramount to the project.
“We couldn't have got the B-25 done without Bob,” says Dunbar.
“Bob McLaughlin comes in here every day. He's more reliable than the staff. He's been doing it for 30 years. He did all the avionics. Every bit of it. Bob's been involved with all the avionics installation and all the electrical wiring in the airplane, cleaning it up. And we went right down to the wire, but we got it all done. And it all works. Can't be happier about that. Bob's helped us with many projects, many restoration projects.”
Restoring a Plane Out of Wood
While the B-25 has been EAA’s biggest project, building a Blériot – an early 1900s French aircraft – has been the EAA’s most unique.
“I think our most unusual project was the Blériot, which took us about three years to build. That's all made out of wood. And that we started with 2x4s, 2x6s, 2x8s, 4x4s and that was all cut, ripped, planed, steamed, everything. We took lumber and made an airplane out of it and that was pretty cool. Bamboo, wire, a bunch of wood sticks fabric and an old Anzani engine. We got it off the ground one time and that was enough. That was scary. We didn't kill anybody – it flew – and we put it away,” Hopkins says with laugh. That aircraft is now on display in the EAA museum.
From Blériots to B-25s, teaching people to fly and giving kids their first airplane ride, it’s all part of a days work for the people who make EAA what it is.
“Being in this role for nine months, I've just been very impressed with how these guys can flex to accommodate such a variety of things. The can-do attitude throughout, which I think would tend to stress most normal humans out. They’re exceptional Americans here working on some pretty amazing stuff. In general, I think it's such a diverse operation that these guys adapt to so well,” says Dunbar.
“Really, it goes back to what Paul did. Just that philosophy and how he did it. You get good people and some good volunteers to help you out and amazing things happen,” says Knapinski. “When we saw the B-25 take off the first time, perfect day, beautiful project, you're just like: ‘All right, this is what I'm working for. This is the moment.’ And you have people who live for those kinds of moments, that say: ‘Yeah, I did that.’"
Gathering of Enthusiasts
And for one week each July, all the volunteers, interests, and projects of EAA culminate at AirVenture, with 600,000 visitors, some from across the globe, 10,000 aircraft, and 5,500 volunteers coming together in a joint celebration of aviation.
“It's what tugs the heart to do. We see it every year at AirVenture, that’s what AirVenture means to an individual. It's not like going to a Packer's game at Lambeau Field; OK, we're going to an NFL game. That’s a singular purpose. But here, people walk in and this event becomes as big or as small as you want to make it,” says Knapinski.
“I always looked at the EAA as sort of like the umbrella under which all these other, Warbirds of America and Vintage Divisions are housed under one roof, you know what I mean? So, they all come here for their big week and there's all of these activities that are going on. You can pick and choose. I'm interested in Warbirds and Antique Classics. And the next guy, he's all about the ultralights and the parachutes and well, it's all here. You've just got to go and find it,” says Hopkins.
